Would You?

Swift loves to add 2-3 days to a delivery that was due on Thursday or Friday after you have already accepted it. I'm sorry but that's f in BS. I've even had them be within just a few miles of a terminal but my DM still says they can't be T-called.

So much for keeping these trucks moving. LOL!

JJ

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Swift loves to add 2-3 days to a delivery that was due on Thursday or Friday after you have already accepted it.

Jim, that's one of those bizarre statements that makes me scratch my head. Why would a trucking company "love" to do something like that? Can you come up with a scenario or a reason in which doing just such a thing would be a benefit to the company?

Actually, I just did that. I picked it up 2.5 hours north of my house, told to take it home for the holiday weekend and deliver my first drop in Chattanooga tomorrow morning as soon as that customer opens and make the final in Atlanta afterwards. So tonight I'll head to Chattanooga, where the customer has room for me to park, take my 10, and start my clock when I'm ready to leave my first stop. I'll have a full clock to head down to Atlanta, make delivery, get my reload and get out before I run out of hours on my 14.

I could easily leave early in the morning instead but I'm not fond of overnighting in Atlanta so tonight it is.

Swift loves to add 2-3 days to a delivery that was due on Thursday or Friday after you have already accepted it.

Jim, that's one of those bizarre statements that makes me scratch my head. Why would a trucking company "love" to do something like that? Can you come up with a scenario or a reason in which doing just such a thing would be a benefit to the company?

You can think it's bizarre if you want to but it happens more than just occasionally. The fact they won't t-call it afterwards is even more bizarre. LOL!

Swift loves to add 2-3 days to a delivery that was due on Thursday or Friday after you have already accepted it.

Jim, that's one of those bizarre statements that makes me scratch my head. Why would a trucking company "love" to do something like that? Can you come up with a scenario or a reason in which doing just such a thing would be a benefit to the company?

You can think it's bizarre if you want to but it happens more than just occasionally. The fact they won't t-call it afterwards is even more bizarre. LOL!

It could easily be the customer needing to extend the window, which can happen often. I doubt swift, or any company would willingly do it on their own.

Just curious. How many of you would accept a load going 500 miles - PU 9/1, DEL 9/5?

Been with the company 5 weeks solo and can now drive 500 + miles a day easy. I did call and ask what l was supposed to do while waiting to deliver. The answer was I will give you a new load. I don't know if its a Swift way of doing things but that's not the only load l have been given with too many days before delivery. Got another going to CA with an extra 5 days, thankfully my DM worked to have it T-called in NM. I do have a wonderful DM who gives me the miles.......everything is good...so far!!

Just curious. How many of you would accept a load going 500 miles - PU 9/1, DEL 9/5?

Been with the company 5 weeks solo and can now drive 500 + miles a day easy. I did call and ask what l was supposed to do while waiting to deliver. The answer was I will give you a new load. I don't know if its a Swift way of doing things but that's not the only load l have been given with too many days before delivery. Got another going to CA with an extra 5 days, thankfully my DM worked to have it T-called in NM. I do have a wonderful DM who gives me the miles.......everything is good...so far!!

That's a common procedure at any large company. They'll have drivers pick up freight as close to their delivery location as possible to minimize deadhead mileage. Then they'll repower the loads that need it. You might have to speak up to your dispatcher to make sure they're working on a repower. It's entirely possible they could forget from time to time. They do have a lot going on. But no one wins when trucks are sitting idle. Everyone is losing money when that happens. So it's certainly in everyone's best interest to keep you moving. It's just impossible to know all of the stuff that's going on behind the scenes with dispatch and load planning. That's part of the trust you build with your dispatcher. They need to trust that you're going to get your assignments done safely and on time, and you need to trust that they're going to work things out on their end to keep you moving.

Ugh, Jim J you seem to be walking straight towards terminal rat territory. No company out there wants a truck sitting - ever. That's why some dispatchers can be a bit resistant when it comes to home time-- but the idea that companies, be it Swift or anything, have a 'typical' operating procedure involving making good drivers sit on a load or without a load isn't true.

Now, as a caveat to that, if someone ISN'T a good driver, having them sit around not making money can be a good way to get them gone. If you're not in need of a reset, there isn't some extraordinary factor happening with dispatch, etc and you're sitting for days on a load or without a load at all, it's time to talk to your dispatcher and find out how you can improve. The top drivers aren't sitting like that, even if there isn't freight. They'll get paid to deadhead somewhere there is freight so they can keep moving and be kept happy. Just the last three days I've had over 700 miles of deadhead to get freight (first 350ish miles) and then to go home(second 350ish miles) because I do whatever I can to show that I'm a great asset that they want to keep rolling and keep happy.

On the flip side, during the few weeks I did training, I had a second seat that was quite the opposite. He started by informing dispatch he wanted every load to either start or stop in central California, that he'd only drive during the day, and that he'll be sure to let them know how late he'll be as they 'can never schedule appointments for convenient times.' While he was sitting for days on end, our dispatcher was slipping me layover pay and asking for updates on if the guy was talking about leaving.

I don't think people complaining about long waits generally fall into either of those categories, though. I think it's more they accept the long waits for appointments and don't know that, with a little bit of communication, things like that can be avoided. At a DC I ran into another driver from my company who was talking about how he was thinking about leaving because they kept giving him loads where he'd end up stuck at a truck stop for a day or two waiting for a delivery time, and when I asked him what dispatch said about getting a reschedule or T-call, he was dumbfounded having never even considered it. Your dispatcher is there to help you with things like that! Getting off a load, whether T-called or delivered, early is best for EVERYONE. The customer gets their product sooner than expected, your company is able to take more loads, you're turning more miles... the only folks not benefiting from it are truck stops, but with their prices I'm sure they'll be fine. :P

Ugh, Jim J you seem to be walking straight towards terminal rat territory. No company out there wants a truck sitting - ever.

Before this turns into a race to see how many of us can pile onto Jim for his responses, I want to clarify something about my question to him earlier. When I asked him this...

Can you come up with a scenario or a reason in which doing just such a thing would be a benefit to the company?

I was actually baiting him a little in the hopes that he would come up with the answer.

This does happen at times, a lot of times. Planners grab loads that they know they are going to be able to change the delivery window, and they will often times have a driver take that load knowing that it can be T-called and set up for another driver to make the final steps in the delivery. This is how they grab more freight for their company, and hopefully increase their revenues. The key for the driver who gets put on these loads is to communicate with his dispatcher that he wants to have the load T-called. When you get to a weekend scenario, or even worse, a holiday weekend like we are discussing here, then it is imperative that the driver communicates properly and effectively so that he can keep moving. This is one of the habits of the guys who are considered Top Tier Drivers. They don't refuse loads, even if they look kind of gimpy. They work with their dispatcher and help him get the most done. Some times that means taking a little dinky load with way too much time on it, knowing that there is a way to work that load so that it doesn't hinder you for the whole weekend. Most of the large carriers are working with sufficient software that keeps them able to manipulate loads like this so that they can move more freight, yet still keep their top notch drivers busy.

Any time you end up with a load like this you want to get it moving and immediately start communicating with dispatch about the issues on the load. Let them know that you would really like to keep your truck moving over the weekend. If you don't communicate these things, they are busy and may never think of you again. These kind of communications ought to be done on the Qualcomm. They will get noticed quicker that way, plus that dispatcher's managers can see these communications and pick up on how that dispatcher is taking care of those drivers who are providing such good communications.

Ugh, Jim J you seem to be walking straight towards terminal rat territory. No company out there wants a truck sitting - ever.

Before this turns into a race to see how many of us can pile onto Jim for his responses, I want to clarify something about my question to him earlier. When I asked him this...

Can you come up with a scenario or a reason in which doing just such a thing would be a benefit to the company?

I was actually baiting him a little in the hopes that he would come up with the answer.

This does happen at times, a lot of times. Planners grab loads that they know they are going to be able to change the delivery window, and they will often times have a driver take that load knowing that it can be T-called and set up for another driver to make the final steps in the delivery. This is how they grab more freight for their company, and hopefully increase their revenues. The key for the driver who gets put on these loads is to communicate with his dispatcher that he wants to have the load T-called. When you get to a weekend scenario, or even worse, a holiday weekend like we are discussing here, then it is imperative that the driver communicates properly and effectively so that he can keep moving. This is one of the habits of the guys who are considered Top Tier Drivers. They don't refuse loads, even if they look kind of gimpy. They work with their dispatcher and help him get the most done. Some times that means taking a little dinky load with way too much time on it, knowing that there is a way to work that load so that it doesn't hinder you for the whole weekend. Most of the large carriers are working with sufficient software that keeps them able to manipulate loads like this so that they can move more freight, yet still keep their top notch drivers busy.

Any time you end up with a load like this you want to get it moving and immediately start communicating with dispatch about the issues on the load. Let them know that you would really like to keep your truck moving over the weekend. If you don't communicate these things, they are busy and may never think of you again. These kind of communications ought to be done on the Qualcomm. They will get noticed quicker that way, plus that dispatcher's managers can see these communications and pick up on how that dispatcher is taking care of those drivers who are providing such good communications.

LMAO! I'll just leave your little terminal rat insult alone for now. But it does seem at times that you can't seem to help yourself when someone even slightly disagrees with you Way to keep it civil...

I'm obviously not talking about loads that already have too much time on them. I'm talking about loads that are about to be delivered on time and at the last minute they will add 2 to 3 days to them.

Later, JJ .